She found her Uncle Mark leaning against a fence. He’d brought his own water. Mom was airborne, and Aunt Carol was talking to her team.

“Have you heard from Victoria?” he asked. “She hasn’t answered many of my messages, and she’s been quiet when she has.”

“Something came up with Breakthrough. She’s making a point of not getting entangled in it. She’s taking a leave from work and flying out to talk to capes about another project.”

“Ah, that’d explain it.”

“It kind of messed her up. But she’ll be okay, I think.”

He nodded.

“I keep expecting you to announce you’re leaving,” he said.

“Do I look that restless?”

“No. You seem comfortable wherever you are. But this doesn’t feel like it’s you.”

“Aunt Carol wants to lead. I thought I’d back her up until she’s settled.”

He nodded slowly.

“What are you thinking?” she prodded him.

“Is it a good thing, if she succeeds?”

“She’s good at bringing out the best in others. She knows about presentation, the legal side of it, training…”

“There’s more to a team than that.”

“There is,” Crystal said. “Some will stay. Others will learn what they need to learn from her before going.”

But that wasn’t what he was saying.

She waited, letting him digest.

“You…” he started. “You keep saying she. Not ‘you two’, not ‘you’. It’s her.”

“Yeah.”

“Being with her, it’s nice. I love her.”

“Yeah.”

“But everything else falls by the wayside, somehow. It’s comfortable, I let my guard down, and I let others down.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, Uncle Mark.”

“On the battlefield, we cover one another’s weaknesses. We have a rhythm, we can read each other’s minds. I think I let myself believe that it’s the same elsewhere. But it’s not. I’m… less, off the battlefield. I know that, I break away, but I find reasons to go back. If I tell her I want to separate and focus on myself, focus on Victoria, on Amy… I worry I’ll find more reasons to go back on it.”

“Don’t.”

“It’s not as simple as saying ‘no’.”

“If you want to move on, then move on. Don’t separate. Divorce.”

He reached out and created a glowing orb, then made it disappear. His hand clenched into a fist.

“I thought I’d be the one asking you where you’re going,” he told her. “Now I’m the one asking myself.”

“That’s not a no to my idea.”

“It’s something I’ve thought about,” he said. He made a groan of a sound, then looked at her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m good, Uncle Mark. I’m fine waiting. The world’s changing and I’ll figure out where to settle down when it’s not changing as fast.”

“That easily, hm?”